I thought I did everything right

FAirly new to saltwater hobby so I make mistakes.
After an inital outbreak of ich which claimed three fish, I removed 2 green chromis to a qt system. Left them there for 6 weeks(used hypo salinity and kick ich)Display tank was empty this whole time(also raised temp on display to 85. All water parameters were goo(amm-0,nitrite-0,nitrate -5,ph-8-3,Sg1.024). Moved chromis back to display tank three weeks ago all is good. A client asked me to remove an older tank as she was old and it was a family members who stopped taking care of it. I went over to remove it and it was so filthy you couldn't see anything. When I drained it down to my suprise a Coral Beauty was stiil alive(looked real bad but still swimming) I didn't really expect it to survive but placed it in a container and finshed the job. Got home 2 hours later and remember the beauty.Just dumped it into qt tank with some food. The next day it was still alive. So I started to rescue this fish. After some good care his color came around was very active. Last week I started bringing water parameters to match display. LAst night I performed my usual care(10 gal water change clean filters and glass) Then proceeded
to transferThe beauty .A short acclimation period(1/2 hour)was all I did because tank parameters were almost identical.(ph was off by .1)
This morning my rescue fish was hermit crab food. Only thing I can think I did wrong was distrubing some of the argonite to vacum up the nasties but I do this every week. Any clues?
This is a FOWLR for know(am waiting on corals until I can get fish to live)
Thanks Mike
PS your site has been a wealth of information.

You probably did nothing wrong. Chances are, if that tank was that neglected, so was the fish. Remember, even if you put the fish into better conditions, and he looked "okay", it doesn't mean the fish is going to survive.

Most fish, when neglected, slowly begin to starve. They can, and do, get to a "point of no return" where even if they seem to be eating, they may not. Even if they do ingest food, they are so beyond help that they don't even digest and process properly. It is NOT uncommon in neglected fish at all.

Now..with that aside, stop bashing yourself and answer the real question... Did ya get a ton of LR or other goodies for breaking down that tank?

not much of anything other than a 46 bowfront and stand. Everythiong else was pretty much junk. The woman has been a client for many yearsand unable to find some one or do this herself. the ataboy and thankyou was more than enough for me. I already know good guys finish last. My girlfriend complained I gave up 3 hours on a Saturday to help some old lady out. I just hope when I get old and feeble I can find some one willing to help me out.

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